The thing is, I like having teeth.
Oct. 30th, 2019 07:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
callunavI'm so irritated by current tooth-care products.
25 years ago, a weird little company called 'Tom's of Maine' showed up and sold unsweetened, natural-ingredient toothpaste. Up until then, I hadn't actually noticed that toothpaste was sweet - singularly unobservant of me, I know - let alone that it contained saccharine. The unsweetened stuff took about two weeks to adjust to, after which I loved it.
I would still love it, if I could find it. Apparently the ubiquitous USian Sweet Tooth (I know other places are geared toward sweet too, but I feel bitter - so to speak - about the US's, mostly because that's where I live) has killed this proposition. Natural toothpastes - including Tom's of Maine - are mostly filled with sorbitol, glycerine, xylitol, erithritol, and stevia, now.
Oh, well.
I can live with it, even though I'd rather not. The real problem is that the fluoride bug-a-boo has reared its head again in a huge way, and almost everything that calls itself 'natural' - thus, no saccharine, no sodium laurel sulfate* - is also fluoride free.
I know that there are people who respond poorly to fluoride. I'm a huge fan of their having toothpastes they can use. However, I'm not one of them, and there is endless research showing that applying fluoride to the teeth not only helps regrow the crystaline enamel that protects them, it also results in larger crystals, making it harder for bacteria to get a foothold. On the other hand, there does not appear to be any significant research suggesting that rubbing something full of minerals against your teeth (e.g., bentonite clay) actually results in remineralization.
There are a few natural toothpastes out there with fluoride. They're mostly expensive, sweet, and minty. I'm giving them a try, anyway, but I'm not thrilled.
Tooth powder seemed like the way to go to get away from sweetness and detergents. There is some sweetening still going on, but it's pretty moderate. However, they seem universally to be non-fluoride.
I'm seriously considering taking things into my own hands. It's possible to buy sodium fluoride powder, and all toothpastes with fluoride list the amount of sodium fluoride as a percentage of the product, so I could use that as a basis for creating my own powder or paste. I hesitate because fluoride *can* be toxic in larger quantities, and it feels a little more precarious than even the more potent herbs I use. Also, for some reason, percentages are one area of math I often suck at. (I was really good at multivariable calculus, but somehow I repeatedly get percentages wrong. It's embarrassing.)
Also, the sodium fluoride powder is a little expensive.
Making my own would let me go genuinely unsweetened, or add a little glycerine if I wanted to, since it would probably be good for oral health anyway. And it would let me make something other than mint. The rise of spice-flavored tooth products (rather than strawberry bubblegum alternatives for children) is one trend I do like.
For all my hesitations, I think I'll at least start working out the math. A fluoridated, non-mint, non-sweet DIY tooth powder or paste would definitely contribute positively to my quality of life.
* It may be weird, but I don't feel the need for detergents in my mouth, and I don't require my toothpaste to foam just in order to prove to me that I did something.
25 years ago, a weird little company called 'Tom's of Maine' showed up and sold unsweetened, natural-ingredient toothpaste. Up until then, I hadn't actually noticed that toothpaste was sweet - singularly unobservant of me, I know - let alone that it contained saccharine. The unsweetened stuff took about two weeks to adjust to, after which I loved it.
I would still love it, if I could find it. Apparently the ubiquitous USian Sweet Tooth (I know other places are geared toward sweet too, but I feel bitter - so to speak - about the US's, mostly because that's where I live) has killed this proposition. Natural toothpastes - including Tom's of Maine - are mostly filled with sorbitol, glycerine, xylitol, erithritol, and stevia, now.
Oh, well.
I can live with it, even though I'd rather not. The real problem is that the fluoride bug-a-boo has reared its head again in a huge way, and almost everything that calls itself 'natural' - thus, no saccharine, no sodium laurel sulfate* - is also fluoride free.
I know that there are people who respond poorly to fluoride. I'm a huge fan of their having toothpastes they can use. However, I'm not one of them, and there is endless research showing that applying fluoride to the teeth not only helps regrow the crystaline enamel that protects them, it also results in larger crystals, making it harder for bacteria to get a foothold. On the other hand, there does not appear to be any significant research suggesting that rubbing something full of minerals against your teeth (e.g., bentonite clay) actually results in remineralization.
There are a few natural toothpastes out there with fluoride. They're mostly expensive, sweet, and minty. I'm giving them a try, anyway, but I'm not thrilled.
Tooth powder seemed like the way to go to get away from sweetness and detergents. There is some sweetening still going on, but it's pretty moderate. However, they seem universally to be non-fluoride.
I'm seriously considering taking things into my own hands. It's possible to buy sodium fluoride powder, and all toothpastes with fluoride list the amount of sodium fluoride as a percentage of the product, so I could use that as a basis for creating my own powder or paste. I hesitate because fluoride *can* be toxic in larger quantities, and it feels a little more precarious than even the more potent herbs I use. Also, for some reason, percentages are one area of math I often suck at. (I was really good at multivariable calculus, but somehow I repeatedly get percentages wrong. It's embarrassing.)
Also, the sodium fluoride powder is a little expensive.
Making my own would let me go genuinely unsweetened, or add a little glycerine if I wanted to, since it would probably be good for oral health anyway. And it would let me make something other than mint. The rise of spice-flavored tooth products (rather than strawberry bubblegum alternatives for children) is one trend I do like.
For all my hesitations, I think I'll at least start working out the math. A fluoridated, non-mint, non-sweet DIY tooth powder or paste would definitely contribute positively to my quality of life.
* It may be weird, but I don't feel the need for detergents in my mouth, and I don't require my toothpaste to foam just in order to prove to me that I did something.